The invention relates to an embroidery hoop for a sewing or embroidery machine.
Embroidery hoops are needed to keep at least one area of an embroidery material in tension and to guide this material by via a suitable drive under the needle of a sewing or embroidery machine. Such embroidery machines have been known for a long time in many constructions. In order to keep the embroidery material or the area of embroidery material in tension as optimally as possible, an embroidery hoop is known that has a lower part that is connected to a drive device of the embroidery or sewing machine and an upper part that can be connected by fasteners or by a tensioning device to the lower part, in order to clamp the embroidery material in-between. Alternatively, the upper part could also be connected to the drive device. In order to obtain the best possible clamping on all sides, the upper hoop part engages partially into the open cross section of the lower part and in this way clamps the embroidery material.
The tensioning and later shifting of the embroidery material, in order to be able to attach an embroidery pattern across a larger surface area is complicated.
Furthermore, embroidery hoops are known in which the lower hoop part that is connected to the drive device of the sewing and embroidery machine and the upper hoop part are connected to each other by a hinge. Such embroidery hoops are very simple in operation, because after laying the embroidery material on the lower hoop part, the upper part is placed by a pivoting motion exactly over the lower hoop part and can be connected to this lower part. A disadvantage in this hoop arrangement is the fact that the embroidery material can be embroidered only along its edge, because only a narrow strip can be clamped tight on one side, namely on the side of the hinge. Thus, the center of the embroidery material cannot be embroidered if this is larger than approximately four-times the cross-sectional surface area of the embroidery hoop itself.